Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Don’t worry! That is a tall order. There are so many things in life we just cannot know, the most important being, “When will I die?” Jesus assures us that worry cannot add even an hour to our lives. In fact, worry very well might subtract hours from our lives. Verywellmind.com published an article saying, “In a study published in 2008, researchers at Purdue University followed 1,600 men, ages 43 to 91, for 12 years to examine how those with neurotic (worrisome) personalities fared over time. At the end of the study, only 50 percent of the men with high or increasing neuroticism were alive compared to 75 percent to 85 percent of the other group.”
Jesus’ answer to worry is to focus on our heavenly Father. He not only has his eye on us, He also provides for all our needs, and I would add, in His prefect time! Waiting can be worrisome. But Jesus encourages us to take our eyes off our problem and focus on our Provider. And if the research is correct, worrying less could add hours to our lives. As a familiar hymn rightfully states, “God will take care of you through every day o’re all the way!”
Peace!
Pastor Vern